Allentown's Rich Lerner trades golf for a reporting tour of the Winter Olympics

HARRY FISHER / THE MORNING CALL

Allentown native Rich Lerner is leaving behind Golf Channel for a month to be part of NBC's Winter Olympics broadcast. Lerner will report from various sites at the Games in Pyeongchang, Korea.

Allentown native Rich Lerner is leaving behind Golf Channel for a month to be part of NBC's Winter Olympics broadcast. Lerner will report from various sites at the Games in Pyeongchang, Korea. (HARRY FISHER / THE MORNING CALL)

Mark WogenrichOf The Morning Call

Before this week, Rich Lerner’s winter sports experience consisted of sledding in West Allentown as a kid. He did call 26th Street one of the country’s great hills, though.

“It’s kind of a miracle I’m even here after that,” Lerner said.

The Allentown native, known for his work on Golf Channel, will stretch his reporting skills this month as part of NBC Sports’ coverage of the Winter Olympics. Lerner is taking a break from golf to join a reporting team that will fan out across the Games, which begin today in Pyeongchang, Korea.

A look at Pennsylvania athletes participating in the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.

A look at Pennsylvania athletes participating in the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.

Lerner will contribute stories to ‘The Olympic Zone,’ a nightly show that will air on NBC local affiliates, and to the network’s coverage on several platforms. Lerner’s initial assignments include a story on the U.S. team’s flagbearer for the opening ceremonies and a piece on the determination of Korean athletes.

For Lerner, the Winter Olympics assignment is the latest, and most diverting, from his duties at Golf Channel, where he has worked for more than 20 years. Last November, Lerner did play-by-play on a Temple-La Salle college basketball game. And last week, he left Golf Channel to spend a month in Korea.

“This is a completely new experience, but I’m really excited about it,” Lerner said before leaving for Pyeongchang. “A good story is a good story, whether it’s golf or curling or bobsledding. The same principles apply.”

Lerner, who covered golf at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, will bring some of that golf experience to the Winter Games. Lerner’s documentary on Hall of Fame Korean golfer Se Ri Pak won a Women’s Sports Foundation Journalism award and he anticipates reporting another story on Pak’s legacy during the Olympics.

“I don’t think it’s a stretch to say she is one of the most significant figures in the history of golf,” Lerner said of Pak. “How many South Korean women who came after her are in the top 10, top 50, top 100 in the world of women’s golf principally because of Se Ri Pak?”

Lerner said he’s open to covering any Winter Olympics event but has a few he wants to see in person. Ski jumping intrigues him, as do biathlon and curling. Lerner also said he wants to watch U.S. alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin and figure skater Nathan Chen “because I like to see brilliance in person in any sport.”

And there’s one more venue he intends to visit.

“I want to feel the rush and speed of the luge,” Lerner sad. “I’ve seen it on TV since I was a kid, but I want to get close to it. I want to hear and feel the hard edge of the blade cutting through the ice at high speed. I’m really looking forward to that.”